Martin Riese has the unusual job of a water sommelier and moved to California two years ago to focus on his dream: his very own water. Picture: Courtesy of Sven Doornkaat.Source: Supplied

IMAGINE walking into a restaurant and having 40 drinks to choose from.

Now imagine those drinks don't involve wine, beer or even spirits but just pure H2O.

Sound nuts?

Not according to water sommelier Martin Riese, who is so passionate about water he's even created his own concoction and devises water menus as part of his job.

Wait a minute. Water sommelier?

Yes. It's a true job and as far fetched as it seems. Mr Riese says he is just filling a gap in the market as people demand a complete range of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages during their dining experiences.

Mr Riese is a man who lives and breathes (well, if only he could) water. In fact he loves it so much he is hoping to make waves in the food world with the launch of Beverly Hills 90H2O, touted as the "champagne of the water world."

Wait a minute. He's creating water? A naturally-occurring substance which humans have been drinking for millennia?

Mr Riese, who grew up around Germany's North Sea, told news.com.au he has a lifelong love and attraction to the clear, life-giving stuff.

But it wasn't until 2005, when he began working as a general manager at Berlin's michelin star restaurant First Floor, that he started living his passion.

It was during this time that he got the idea of creating a water menu after a customer asked if the restaurant offered different types of water.

But we're not talking about different flavoured waters, just the naturally occurring stuff which Mr Riese says changes massively in taste not only from country to country but region to region as well due to different mineral components.

He said the customer's question on different water tastes opened up his eyes and he soon came up with a menu featuring 14 different types of water, which he later extended to 40 as customer demand for different types and tastes increased.

The author of Die Welt des Wassers, or The World of Water, admits he is always on the hunt for new waters and tastes and insists they do taste different according to where you are.

He soon began to create water tastings for events to show people the differences in H2O and attracted plenty of attention in Europe and the US.

Mr Riese moved to Los Angeles two years ago, having received his certification as a water sommelier from the German Mineral Water Association.

And just this month he launched a water menu at Ray's and Stark, Los Angeles County Museum of Art's restaurant where he serves as both its general manager and the chief water sommelier, featuring 20 different waters from 10 countries.

German-born Mr Riese loves water so much he even created his own variety and tasting menu. Picture: Courtesy of Sven DoornkaatSource: Supplied

His own water menu at Ray's is 42 pages long with each type having its own two-page explainer complete with full tasting notes for the eager diner.

But what does a water sommelier actually do?

According to Mr Riese it involves explaining the different types of water - such as tap, purified water and mineral water - how different types can affect the flavour of food and how it can be properly paired with food and beverages.

And the German H2O expert insists different waters really do affect the flavour of food.

He told news.com.au that even though the chemical formulation of water (H2O) is always the same, the taste of water can vary from soft to hard or sweet to slaty and it all depends on the TDS level (total dissolved solids).

"That means it all about the minerals, for example like magnesium, calcium, sodium, silica and so on," he explained.

"The more TDS level in water, the more complex is the taste."

He also says it can definitely affect the flavour of food, using pasta and carrots as an example.

"You can ask every woman in Italy - everybody knows that the quality of dough for pasta depends of the quality of the water," he says.

"Water has an huge impact on food, look for example for Vichy carrots. The Vichy water is a high mineral water, which gives the carrots a different, more slightly salty taste."

Mr Riese said it was the dream of every sommelier to invent their own beverage so when the opportunity came up to create his, he jumped at the chance and hopes it will make quite a splash.

He said it came about after founder and president of the Beverly Hills Drink Company Jon Gluck came to him last year and asked his help to create the first master-crafted water which pairs perfectly with both food and wine.

"We found a great spring in the Sierra Nevada Mountains and I came up with a natural mineral mix which we are adding to the spring water to create a water with exceptional taste and pairing abilities," he explained.

He said after several tests and formulas - and a lot of bathroom visits - the right formula was born.

The bottle is perfume-quality glass and is customised on the production line,with the water never coming into contact with plastic, which can have a negative impact on how the water tastes.

All 10,000 bottles are numbered, custom-made art pieces. A bottle will set you back just $14, but if you're planning a big night on the water a case will cost $164.

And while the concept of a water-tasting menu may seem far fetched, Mr Riese believes it can catch on here in Australia as well, having already proven popular in Europe and parts of the US.

"But just to create a menu is not everything, training and tasting is extremely important so the server can help with questions," he said.

"It's for me, every day, amazing when I can see that I am changing people's view about water."

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Comments on this story

Seriously? Posted at 2:37 PM July 30, 2013

Wasn't long ago when we all thought it was a joke that we would pay money for water in a bottle...

Gull Able of Cuckoo Bananapants Posted at 2:35 PM July 30, 2013

Stage magicians Penn and Teller did this as a prank in their TV show "Bullsh*t" in 2003. They hired an actor to be a "water sommelier" in a restaurant. Many diners could taste the difference in the waters he recommended, despite the fact that the fancy bottles were all filled from the same hose out back of the restaurant.

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